
BS PELL’S BIBLE STORIES *■> 


580 


Aa> i The Story of 
^ ABRAHAM 


^GenColl 


TOLD ET ISAAC > * 


BY EDWARD LEIGH PELL 




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THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


WORKS BY 
Edward Leigh Pell 


Bringing Up John 

A Book for Mothers and Other Teachers of Boys 
and Girls 

How Can I Lead My Pupils to Christ? 

i2mo, cloth. 

What Did Jesus Really Teach About 
War ? i 2 mo, cloth. 

Our Troublesome Religious Questions 

i 2 mo, cloth. 

Secrets of Sunday School Teaching . 

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THE PELL BIBLE STORIES 

The Story of Jesus for Little People. 

The Story of Joseph — The Dreamer. 

The Story of David — The Idol of the 
People. 

The Story of Paul — As Told by 
Himself. 

The Story of Abraha7n — As Told by 
Isaac. 































































































































































The Sacrifice ot Abraham 



THE STORY OF 
ABRAHAM 

AS TOLD BY ISAAC 


By 

EDWARD LEIGH PELL 

Author of “Secrets of Sunday School Teaching ” 


ILLUSTRATED 



Niw York Chicago 

Fleming H. Revell Company 


London and Edinburgh 


Copyright, 1920, by 

FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 


IBS 520 


Printed in the United States of America 


mar -3 1221 


New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. 
London : 21 Paternoster Square 

Edinburgh; 75 Princes Street 

©CI..A605939 

I 


CONTENTS 


I. Father and Son . ... . 7 

II. A Wonderful Vision . . . 16 

III. Strange Happenings in a Strange 

Land . . .... 24 

IV. Heavenly Visitors . . ., 32 

V. A Promise Fulfilled . . 40 

VI. The Bravest Thing a Father 

Ever Did 45 

VII. The Beautiful Rebekah . . 51 

VIII. Sunset L .j 1., w 59 














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I 


FATHER AND SON 

A N OLD man, tall, and straight as an arrow, 
with a great wealth of grayish white hair 
falling in curls about his shoulders, a flowing 
beard white as the snows of Lebanon covering his 
breast and reaching below his girdle, a broad fair 
brow, wonderful eyes that looked out upon you from 
beneath great white crags, — eyes as deep as the wells 
he used to dig in Gerar — wells with stars shining in 
them — stars that twinkled, — eyes that sometimes 
flashed like his Damascus blade and sometimes melted 
with tenderness like the eyes of a gazelle — such was 
my father as he appeared to me when I stood before 
him a little child three score and ten years ago. 

Yet though to my childish eyes he looked more like 
an angel of God than a man, I never knew the time 
when I was afraid of him, for he was as lowly in 
heart as he was princely in bearing. When a stranger 
came to his tent he never permitted a servant to stand 
before him, but always insisted upon serving him with 
his own hands, and when he sat beneath the great 
oak and I sat in his lap it was as if two children were 
playing together — only now and then when telling me 
a story he would suddenly become as one inspired 
and begin to speak in a strangely solemn way, and 
presently a great storm would rise in his bosom and 

7 


8 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


his eyes would flash like the fire of the clouds and 
his voice would peal like thunder among the moun- 
tains. 

Many and wonderful were the stories which my 
father told me in those beautiful days of my child- 
hood. There were stories about God; stories about 
giants; stories about the wonderful city from which 
my father came. And sometimes there were stories 
which those who know not the God of heaven love 
to tell about their own gods. For my father did not 
keep me in ignorance of the ways of the heathen lest I 
should unwittingly fall into their snares. One day 
when he had told me the story of the creation as it 
had been handed down in our family from our father 
Noah, he said: 

“Now listen while I tell you the story as I used to 
hear it from one of my father’s heathen servants 
when I was a boy. Once, a long, long time ago, when 
as yet there was no heaven and no earth, when Apsu 
(the primeval Ocean) and Tiamat (Chaos) mingled 
their waters, when no land was formed, when no 
reed was seen, when as yet nothing had been called 
into being, when no name was named, when no fate 
was fixed, then the gods were created. First Lahmu 
Lahamu came forth. Then after ages had passed 
Anshar and Kishar were called into being. Long 
were the days, then came forth other gods. Then 
Apsu and Tiamat rebelled against the rule of the 
new gods and Tiamat brought forth a brood of 
monsters to war against them. The news was carried 
to the chief of the gods who commanded his follow- 


FATHER AND SON 


9 


ers to go forth against Tiamat and the monsters, but 
they were afraid and refused to obey. At length 
Marduk went forth endowed with great power and 
invincible weapons. He carried a lightning flash 
charged with blazing fire and a net containing a great 
hurricane. He met Tiamat in combat, cast the net 
over the monster, let loose the hurricane and drove 
the wind down her throat to burst her body. He 
ripped her up with his sickle-shaped sword and cut 
her skin into two parts and with one part he made 
the vault of heaven. Then he established the earth 
and the underworld. Next he made the stars for a 
habitation of the gods. He s£t up the Zodiac; or- 
dained the year and divided it into months, appointing 
three stars to each month, and then he set the moon in 
the heavens to rule the night and to fix times and 
seasons. Afterwards he made the beasts of the field 
and creeping things and last of all he made man.” 

I was very young when my father told me this 
strange story, but I remember how very absurd it 
seemed to me and how I pitied the poor heathen, and 
how glad I was that our God was not like their ter- 
rible gods. And I remember how glad I was the 
next day when he told me a far more beautiful story 
which made me think better of the heathen, though 
I am sorry to say it did not give me a better opinion 
of their gods. This is the story as he told it to me : 

“Once the great gods within Shurippak took secret 
counsel to bring a flood upon the earth. There was 
Anu, their father, and there was Bel, the warrior, 
Ninib, their messenger, and Innugi, who directed 


10 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


them; and there was also Ea, the god of wisdom. 
Ea had a friend among men whom he desired to save 
from the flood and so he appeared to him in a dream 
and told him what the gods intended to do. And 
he said unto him: ‘Thou man of Shurippak, build 
thee a ship and forsake thy possessions and take heed 
for thy life and bring unto the ship living seed of 
every kind. And the man whose name was Sitnapi- 
stim) built a great ship six* stories high and one hun- 
dred and eighty feet in breadth and covered it within 
and without with pitch. When it was finished he 
brought into it all his possessions — his silver and 
gold and goods and cattle — besides beasts of the field 
and living creatures of every sort. Then one even- 
ing the ruler of darkness sent a great rain and Sit- 
naptism took his family into the ship and shut the 
door and gave the guidance of the ship into the hands 
of Puzur-Bel, the mariner. At dawn a great black 
cloud came up and Rimmon thundered in the midst 
thereof, and before it went Nebo and Marduk, even 
as messengers went they over mountain and plain; 
and Uragal tore up the anchor and Ninib went forth 
and the storm followed after. The Annunaki lifted 
aloft their torches and lighted all the land with their 
brightness. The whirlwind of Rimmon reached unto 
heaven and day was turned into night so that no man 
could behold his fellow. Then the gods became 
frightened and drew back into the heaven of Anu; 
they crouched like hounds and sat cowering. And 
Ishtar cried as a woman in anguish and bewailed 
aloud over the destruction of her people, who now, 


FATHER AND SON 


11 


filled the sea like the spawn of fishes. And with her 
wept the gods; they were bowed down, their tears 
flowed, their lips were pressed together. For six 
days and six nights the tempest blew and the flood 
covered the earth, but on the seventh day the storm 
and the deluge which had fought like a great host, 
was abated, the sea sank to rest and the hurricane 
was spent. Then Sitnapistim looked out upon the 
waters and called aloud, but the race of man was 
turned again to earth and their habitations had be- 
come a swamp. He opened the window and the light 
of day fell upon his face and he bowed down and 
wept, for lo! all was sea. After twelve days the 
dry land appeared. To the land of Nisir the ship 
floated and the mountain of Nisir held it fast. For 
six days the ship rested and on the seventh Sitnapistim 
opened the window and sent forth a dove. And the 
dove flew this way and that, but she found no resting 
place and she returned. Then sent he forth a swal- 
low. And the swallow flew this way and that, but 
she found no resting place and she returned. Then 
sent he forth a raven and it left; it ate, it waded, it 
croaked, it did not return, for the waters were abated. 
Then Sitnapistim went forth out of the ship and of- 
fered up sacrifice and poured out a drink offering 
upon the mountain top, and the gods smelled the 
sweet savor and like flies they gathered round the 
sacrifice. And Ishtar, the lady of the gods drew 
near and said, ‘Never shall I forget these days. Now 
let the gods come unto the offering; but let not Bel 
come for he sent the flood and gave my people to 


12 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


destruction. But when Bel saw the ship then was 
he wroth and filled with anger because a man had 
escaped destruction, and he demanded to know who 
had revealed his purpose to Sitnapistim. Then Ninib 
opened his mouth and spake: ‘Who but Ea could 
do this thing since Ea knoweth all things?’ Then 
spake Ea and said unto Bel: ‘Ill-advised wast thou, 
O counsellor of the gods, that thou didst send the 
flood. On the sinner lay his sin and on the trans- 
gressor his transgression, but let not all the innocent 
as well as the guilty be destroyed. Let the lion and 
the leopard, let famine and pestilence slay mankind 
but let there be no flood again. I divulged not the 
counsel of the gods to Sitnapistim in words but in a 
dream did he learn it.’ Then went Bel into the ship 
and took Sitnapistim by the hand and led him forth; 
and he blessed him and his wife and he said: ‘Now 
let Sitnapistim and his wife be as we who are gods 
and let them dwell afar off at the mouth of the 
rivers.’ And the gods led them away and gave them 
a dwelling place even at the mouth of the rivers.” 

When my father told me this story I expressed in 
my childish way my astonishment that there should 
be anybody in the world so ignorant as to believe 
such things, and he replied : 

“Why, my son, that is the story as they tell it in 
the land of learning, even in the sacred city of Ur, 
the city of schools and libraries and of wise men 
learned in all the wisdom of the world. But”* — he 
added — “one day you will understand that men may 
be very wise in the things that pertain to the world 


FATHER AND SON 


13 


and yet very foolish in the things that pertain to 
God; for it is given to man to search and find out 
many mysteries of earth and sea and sky, but no man 
by searching can find out the mysteries of God. We 
can only know of God what he chooses to reveal to us 
concerning himself, and if we turn away from him 
and forget what he has revealed to us and then try 
to imagine what he is like and how he acts, we shall 
only imagine foolish things — as foolish as the story 
I have told you.” 

‘‘But,” I asked, “do all the wise people of Ur 
believe such stories?’* 

“No,” he replied, “for in Ur as elsewhere there are 
a few sincere souls who cannot be satisfied with 
heathen vanities but in their hearts they long for 
God, even as the wild doe when pursued by the hunter 
panteth after the water brooks. Once I heard a 
man praying to the Moon-god. His heart was full 
of anguish and he was trying hard to reach the ear of 
his Creator, and this was his prayer: 

“ ‘Lord, long-suffering and full of forgiveness, 
whose hand upholds the life of all mankind! In 
heaven, who is supreme? Thou alone, thou art 
supreme. In earth, who is supreme? Thou alone, 
thou art supreme ! O Lord, my sins are many, my; 
transgressions are great. I sought for help and none 
took my hand. I wept and none stood at my side. 
I cried aloud and there was none that heard me. 
To my God, the merciful one, I turn myself, I utter 
my prayer. O My God, seven times seven are my 
transgressions ; forgive my sins !’ ” 


14 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


I can never forget how my heart went out in ten- 
derness toward the poor heathen as I listened to this 
prayer, for I had often heard my father pray to 
Almighty God in almost those very words. 

My father was learned in all the wisdom of the 
Babylonians and it was his desire that I should have 
all the educational advantages which he had enjoyed, 
but he was unwilling that I should be exposed to the 
evil influences of the heathen schools and he there- 
fore undertook to teach me himself after the manner 
of the ancients. And so every day I went and sat 
down by his side and took heed to the words of his 
lips. First he would tell me a story of the past. 
Then he would give me a proverb to learn by heart, 
and then he would tell me another story, after which 
he would talk to me about God. As I grew older he 
told me more and more about the wonders of the 
world, and at length he turned my eyes toward the 
heavens and taught me the mysteries of the stars. 
Then he turned my eyes back to earth again and 
spread before me the wonders of the land from which 
he came. One day — it was a joyful day! — he pic- 
tured to me the glories of the sacred city of Ur. He 
told me of its beautiful streets; of its glorious temples 
and how they were built, story upon story; of the 
magnificent libraries and how the books in them 
were written; of the beautiful ships that sailed from 
its harbor and the strange countries to which they 
went and the wonderful treasures which they brought 
back. 

While he was speaking my eyes wandered toward 


FATHER AND SON 


15 


the old family tent and then to the cluster of smaller 
tents occupied by my father’s followers standing near, 
and when he was through I said: 

“I wish I was there. Why did you leave all those 
beautiful things and come over here into this lonely 
land to live in a poor old tent?” 

“Ah, my son,” said my father with a strangely 
solemn look in his eyes, “that which is unsavory can- 
not be eaten without salt, neither is there any taste 
in the white of an egg.” 


n 


A WONDERFUL VISION 
HE next day when I took my place at my 



father’s side he held up before me a beautiful 


apple. He had cut it open but had carefully 
put the two halves together again. 

“Look at this, my son,” he said, and as he spoke 
he let the pieces fall apart in his hand. 

“Ugh!” I exclaimed in disgust; for the worm had 
done its deadly work and the apple was as foul with- 
in as it was fair without. 

He was silent for a moment, then casting the pieces 
aside he said: 

“You asked me yesterday why I left Ur. When I 
was a child the city of my fathers fascinated me, for it 
was fair to look upon and I saw only the outward ap- 
pearance ; but when I became old enough to look with- 
in I turned from it with loathing, for sin like a worm 
had eaten its way through its heart and it was full of 
death and all uncleanness. The people of Ur adorned 
their bodies with beautiful robes and their speech 
with beautiful words, and their homes with beautiful 
vases and rugs, and their streets with beautiful tem- 
ples and statues and libraries, but their secret 
thoughts were full of darkness and their lives were 
unspeakably vile.” 

And then he went on to explain how it happened 


A WONDERFUL VISION 17 

that the people of his country became so terribly 
wicked. 

“When God made man,” he said, “he did not leave 
him to himself but visited and communed with him 
until man came to know God even as a son knows 
his own. father. But when sin came into the world 
men turned away from God and shut him out of their 
thoughts, and not having the fear of God before 
them they went on deeper and deeper into sin. By 
and by trouble came upon them and sorrow and they 
felt that they must have a God; and as they had 
forgotten the God of heaven they undertook to make 
gods of their own; and their thoughts being evil they 
made for themselves gods that were evil, and having 
such gods before them they gradually grew worse and 
worse until every imagination of the thoughts of their 
hearts was only evil continually.’* 

“But did everybody forget God?” I asked. 

“No, my son,” he replied. “Here and there in the 
world God had his sincere worshippers who handed 
down his name to their children and their children’s 
children, but they were as few and far apart as foun- 
tains in a desert, and when I was a child I think our 
family was the only one in all Ur that served the God 
of heaven.” 

And then he told me how his mother had talked 
to him about these things when he was a little child 
and how sad she was when she spoke of them and how 
his little heart had been set on fire with desire to do 
something to keep the name of God from disappear- 
ing from the earth. 


18 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


“My mother,” he said, “was a devoted worshipper 
of the God of heaven and so was my brother Haran, 
but she died when I was young, and by and by Haran 
died also, and after that it seemed to me that I was 
alone in the world ; for though my father believed in 
our God, his heart seemed to be set upon the ways of 
the heathen and he often went to their temples, and 
my brother Nahor went with him. 

“My people were farmers and cattle raisers and 
like many others of the same calling we lived in the 
city and went forth every morning to our fields and 
pastures. Sometimes I would go to the farm and 
take a flock of sheep far out on the plain and spend 
the day watching over them while they grazed. Usu- 
ally there was little to do and I would sit for hours 
with my eyes fixed upon my sheep while my thoughts 
would wander away to distant pastures. Often I 
thought of God and of the beautiful world he had 
made for us and of the ingratitude of his creatures 
who, having received all things at his hands, had 
turned away to worship gods of their own making. 
And often as I thought of these things I wept and 
cried aloud unto my God. One day while I was 
pouring out my soul unto God there came to me a 
wonderful vision.” 

Here my father paused and a strange far-away 
look came into his eyes. I waited a moment and then 
begged him to go on but he did not notice me. At 
length he said: 

“I cannot tell you of that vision, only you must 
know that the God of heaven appeared to me and 


A WONDERFUL yiSION 


19 


told me that he had set me apart to preserve his name 
in the earth, and that I must leave my country and 
kindred and go to a distant land in the West which 
he would show me, where I could separate my family 
from all heathen influences and train them up to 
keep the way of the Lord. Moreover he promised 
me his blessing and declared that in my seed all the 
nations of the earth should be blessed.” 

Then he went on to tell me that when the vision 
was gone he lay still upon his face as one dead, but 
presently a strange warmth filled his heart and an 
unutterable joy thrilled through his whole being. 
He sprang to his feet and hurried his sheep 
back to the fold and then hastened to his father 
and told him of the wonderful commission which 
God had given him and urged him to leave Ur 
and go to the land to which God had called him. 
His father scanned his face anxiously for a moment 
and then the tears came into his eyes and he said : 

“Truly it is from the Lord, my son, and I cannot 
say anything against it.” 

But just then Nahor came in and when my father 
repeated his story his brother laughed in his face and 
begged his father to pay no attention to his foolish 
dreams. 

“I turned away,” said my father, “with a heavy 
heart for I knew I could not overcome the strange 
influence which my brother had over him and that 
night I wept bitterly upon my bed and asked God to 
show me what I should do. It did not occur to me 
to leave home without my father, for a§ you may 


20 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


know, among my people it is not considered meet that 
a son should leave his parents so long as they remain 
upon earth to bless him. The next day I met a 
friend who had just returned from the West and I 
found him full of enthusiasm over that wonderful 
country. It was almost as rich, he said, as the richest 
grain lands around Ur, and what was better the land 
was thinly settled and there was abundant room for 
all. This I knew would appeal to my brother, for we 
had many flocks and herds and it was daily becoming 
more and more difficult to find grazing lands for 
them. And so I persuaded my friend to go home 
with me and tell my brother all that he had seen. 

“The next morning I found that Nahor had caught 
my friend’s enthusiasm and when I went to my father 
he readily consented to my plan. Then I hurried to 
my friends and tried to persuade them to go with me, 
for I knew that it was impossible to make the jour- 
ney unless we could get together a caravan of suffi- 
cient size to secure ourselves against attacks from law- 
less hordes of the desert. At first I talked to them 
about the commission which God had given me and 
tried to interest them in my great purpose, but they 
only winked at each other and smiled and tapped 
their foreheads and passed on. Later I talked to 
them about the wonderful opportunities of the great 
west and I was more successful. Indeed I had so 
little difficulty in persuading them that our com- 
pany was soon made up and at the next full moon we 
turned our faces from Ur and our great caravan be- 
gan to wind its way up the river road toward Haran. 


% 



ABRAHAM JOURNEYING TO CANAAN 
set my face steadfastly towards the land of the southwest 






























A WONDERFUL VISION 


21 


“It was a long journey and very exhausting to my 
father who was now old and feeble, and when we 
reached Haran he insisted that he could go no far- 
ther. And so we pitched our tents under the shadow 
of the city walls and scattered our flocks and herds 
over the beautiful green plains which stretched out 
on every side as far as the eye could reach. The 
country was so rich and our flocks and herds increased 
so rapidly that many of our friends decided to settle 
permanently in the land, but I was anxious to get 
away from Haran, for it was almost as full of 
heathen abominations as Ur, and besides my heart 
w T as set on the great commission which God had 
given me. And so when my father died and the days 
of mourning were passed I gathered my possessions 
all together and having received directions in a vision 
of the night I set my face steadfastly toward the 
land of the southwest. None of my people went with 
me except my wife and Lot, my brother Haran’s son, 
but I had many followers and servants, and my cara- 
van was so large that the people of the land through 
which we passed stood in great awe of us. We 
stopped for some days at Damascus where we traded 
and then renewed our journey toward the river of 
Canaan. One beautiful morning in the early spring 
we crossed the river a few miles below the great lake 
and made our way slowly up the steep ascent beyond. 
When we reached the top of the ridge a scene of 
wonderful beauty burst upon our vision. Within a 
great wall of blue mountains stretched around the 
horizon lay a vast green sea of hills and valleys 


22 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


bathed in the mellow light of the morning sun. A 
hundred hillsides were dotted over with beautiful 
flowers — red and white and pink and golden and 
purple. The sky was melodious with the songs of 
birds and great golden butterflies flitted lazily about 
in the warm sunlight. 

“ ‘As beautiful as the garden of the Lord !’ ” I ex- 
claimed as I stood with Lot drinking in the scene. 

“‘True; and where can we hope to find a fairer 
land to dwell,’ cried Lot with enthusiasm. ‘See it is 
but thinly settled : I can count but four flocks in all the 
land. Why not build a city on yonder hill and gather 
our people around us and bring our wanderings to an 
end.” 

“But I said to him : 

“ ‘My son, it was not for this that I left my country 
and my kindred. God has called me out from among 
my people to build up his name in the earth and not 
to build up cities where heathen abominations may 
abound.’ 

“The young man turned from me with a sigh, for 
he had never become reconciled to our wandering life 
and his heart yearned for the city even as the parched 
grass yearns for the morning dew. 

“We turned toward the south and at sunset we 
pitched our tents in a beautiful plain where our flocks 
would find abundant pasture. That night God ap- 
peared to me in a vision and told me that I had at 
last reached the land which he had set apart for me, 
and assured me that the whole country should one 
day be occupied by my descendants. He did not 


A WONDERFUL VISION 


23 


give the land to me, for he did not want me to be per- 
manently settled again lest my heart should become 
entangled in the things of the earth and I should lose 
sight of the great commission which he had given me. 
And so ever since that day I have been a stranger and 
a sojourner in the land, wandering hither and thither 
as God directed me, trusting him for all things, keep- 
ing my heart ever detached from the things which 
the heathen seek after and ever looking forward to 
the great day when the knowledge of God shall cover 
the earth and when in my seed all the nations of the 
earth shall be blessed. 

“And this, my son,” said my father, putting his 
arm around me tenderly, “is the reason why I pre- 
fer this simple tent above all the glories of the city of 
my childhood. If I can here raise my son to keep 
the way of the Lord and shun all heathen enchant- 
ments I shall think it a small matter that I gave up 
my country and became a wanderer and a sojourner 
in a strange land !” 

As he spoke these last words he looked toward the 
setting sun and its glory filled his face. But in his 
eyes I was sure I saw another light — a light like 
that which shines in the eyes that have opened upon 
the glory of God. 


Ill 


STRANGE HAPPENINGS IN A STRANGE LAND 

T HE morning after his vision my father arose 
very early and calling six of his servants sent 
them to gather great stones from the hillsides. 
As they brought them to him he laid them one upon 
another in the form of a hollow square until the 
walls were nearly as high as a man’s loins. Then 
he had them fill up the hollow place with earth and 
smooth it over, and while the wood was being placed 
in order upon it one of the servants was sent to bring 
a lamb from the flock and another went to call the 
people to the sacrifice. Meanwhile my father has- 
tened to his tent and when all was ready he came 
forth clothed in a long white garment, and taking his 
place by the altar solemnly offered up the lamb as a 
burnt offering unto God. Then as the smoke of the 
sacrifice ascended and while the people stood looking 
on in silent awe he lifted up his hands to heaven and 
blessed the name of the Most High God; after which 
he turned and blessed the people and dismissed them 
to their daily tasks. 

Thus did my father begin to magnify the name 
of the God of heaven in Canaan and from that day 
the smoke of the morning sacrifice has not ceased to 
ascend to our God in the sight of the heathen. 

By and by the grass gave out in the pastures and 

24 


STRANGE HAPPENINGS 


25 


my father plucked up his tent-pegs and removed to a 
plain not very far from the city of Salem, and there 
again he erected an altar and called upon the name of 
the Lord. And thus he went on from place to place, 
ever going toward the South and everywhere build- 
ing an altar unto God until at length a chain of altars 
ran like fortresses throughout the land. Not long 
after reaching the South Country the rainy season 
failed and the grass began to parch like leaves in an 
oven, and my father was compelled to drive his 
flocks and herds to Egypt for sustenance ; but so soon 
as the drought was over he returned to Canaan and 
after remaining in the South Country for a short 
time started on another slow journey through the 
land. 

My father’s flocks and the flocks he had given his 
nephew Lot had now grown so large that it was no 
small matter to find pasture for them. As a conse- 
quence there was much strife between his shepherds 
and Lot’s and this went on from bad to worse until 
my father saw that there was danger of a serious 
breach between the two families. One day he called 
Lot aside and had a frank talk with him about the 
matter. 

“We are brethren,” he said kindly but firmly, “and 
this strife must cease. Our flocks and herds are too 
large to dwell together any longer and it is better that 
we should separate. Now, my son, go out and look 
over the country and let me know what part of the 
land you wish for yourself. I want you to have 
your choice. If you go to the right hand I will go 


26 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


to the left, and if you choose the left hand I will 
go to the right.” 

That was always my father’s way. Under the 
promise of God the whole land belonged to him for 
his descendants, yet in the kindness of his heart he 
not only offered to divide with his nephew, but in- 
sisted that he should have the first choice. Never 
was there a more magnanimous soul. 

That evening as the sun was setting Lot climbed 
to the top of the highest hill in the neighborhood and 
carefully examined the face of the country. Presently 
his eyes fell upon the great plain that is watered by 
the river which runs into the Salt Sea. It is a beauti- 
ful country of great fame for its fertility, and in those 
days was dotted over at its lower end with beauti- 
ful cities, like the white ships that dotted the green sea 
beyond the harbor of Ur. It was a tempting sight — 
too tempting for one of Lot’s disposition to resist — 
and after gazing until the gathering twilight shut out 
the beautiful vision he hastened down the hill to my 
father’s tent. 

“I will choose the country of the plains,” he said 
abruptly. 

“Very well,” said my father quietly, “and may 
mercy and peace be with you.” 

My father said nothing more, for he was cut to the 
heart. Not that he cared on account of the land, for 
he would not have turned toward the cities of the 
plain under any circumstances, but he could not be 
insensible to his nephew’s selfishness and want of 
gratitude, and it hurt him deeply to find that the 


STRANGE HAPPENINGS 


27 


young man’s heart still yearned toward heathen 
cities, for he had heard that the wickedness of So- 
dom exceeded even the abominations of Ur. 

The next day Lot set his face toward the East and 
within a month he had pitched his tent under the 
shadow of the walls of Sodom, and the next time my 
father heard from him he had given up his pastoral 
life and gone to dwell in the heart of the city. Yet 
I would not have you think that he was actually led 
astray by heathen enticements, for I have heard that 
he never gave up the worship of Almighty God and 
that he often rebuked the people of Sodom for their 
sins. 

Nevertheless the man paid dearly for his choice. 
He had hardly settled in Sodom before the vassal 
kings of the plain threw off the yoke of their eastern 
conqueror and lord, Chedorlaomer, and the next year 
the great king swept down upon them with a mighty 
army and punished them terribly for their rash con- 
duct. 

“One morning,” said my father, from whom I 
learned the story, “I was sitting in the door of my 
tent near the little city of Arbah, when I heard a 
distant shout, and lifting up my eyes I saw a man 
running swiftly toward me. As he came nearer I saw 
that his garments were rent and his head was covered 
with dust, and I knew that he was a bearer of evil 
tidings. 

“ ‘News ! my lord, news !’ he shouted as he bound- 
ed into my presence and threw himself on his face 
before me. 


28 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


“ ‘Alas ! my lord,’ he cried excitedly, ‘the great king 
of the East came down upon Sodom with a mighty 
army and has laid the city waste and carried all the 
people away; and your kinsman Lot they have car- 
ried away also.’ 

“My heart fainted within me but I quickly revived, 
and springing to my feet called aloud for my steward. 
I sent him with a message to my confederates — three 
Canaanite chiefs with whom I had an agreement for 
our mutual protection — urging them to come to me 
at once with all the men they could bring. Then I 
sent out servants over the country with orders to all 
my people to drive in their flocks and herds in haste 
and report at my tent. In a little while they began 
to arrive and as rapidly as they came I set them to 
work. The women baked bread and parched wheat 
that we might have food to refresh ourselves by the 
way, while the men put new strings in their bows 
and polished such spears as we had and made new 
ones by cutting long wooden stakes and sharpening 
them at the end and hardening the point in fire. 
Then two-score swords which I had bought at Dam- 
ascus were brought out to be polished, but when we 
uncovered them they smote upon our eyes like the 
noonday sun. 

“At last all was in readiness and a little before 
sunset I had three hundred and eighteen armed men 
drawn up before my tent door awaiting our confed- 
erates who presently came with three hundred more. 
We greeted them with a mighty shout and then we 
started off together at a great pace in pursuit of the 


STRANGE HAPPENINGS 


29 


enemy, who I had learned was now on the way 
toward Damascus with a great burden of prisoners 
and spoil. We marched all night without stopping 
and when the sun was up we lay down in a wood and 
rested until the cool of evening and then we started 
again. Thus we went on night after night until at 
last one morning an hour before dawn we came upon 
the enemy’s camp fifty miles southwest of Damascus. 
I divided my forces and just as the day began to 
dawn we pounced upon the camp from opposite sides 
with a shout that froze the hearts of the waking hosts 
with terror. They sprang to their feet with frightful 
cries and for a moment rushed blindly about utterly 
beside themselves; then by a common impulse, like a 
great herd of frightened kine, they tore off toward 
the desert, leaving all their spoil and prisoners behind 
them. I left a score of our men in charge of the 
camp and sprang after them, and all that day we pur- 
sued them and ceased not to smite them until the sun 
went down. 

“When we returned to the camp Lot came to meet 
me and threw his arms about my neck and kissed me, 
and we wept together. Then he told me that I had 
rescued all the people that had been carried away 
with him; not one of them was missing. It was a 
joyful hour and I felt that God had richly rewarded 
me for all my trouble. 

“We were many days on our way back to Arbah, 
for our men were greatly burdened with spoil; but 
the tidings of our victory flew like eagles before us 


30 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


and all along the way the people came out in great 
crowds to greet us. At last came the king of Sodom, 
leading the remnant of his army that had escaped, 
and when they saw us they lifted up their voices with 
a mighty shout in our honor. The king’s heart was 
melting with gratitude and he overwhelmed me with 
kindness and finally insisted on escorting me on my 
way. When we reached the valley of Shaveh we 
found the king of Salem waiting to greet us. As we 
approached he came forward to meet me, and lifting 
his hands toward heaven solemnly blessed me in the 
name of the Most High God. At the sound of that 
name my heart bounded within me for I had never 
been told that the king was a worshipper and priest 
of the God of heaven, and I sought to honor the 
name of my God by offering him as the priest of the 
Most High a tithe of all the spoil which God had 
given unto my hands. The king had brought out 
great baskets of bread and skins of wine and for an 
hour my weary soldiers lay upon the grass and ate 
and drank and told the story of their adventures to 
the people that crowded around them. At length 
as evening wore on, the king of Sodom came to me 
and said: 

“ T must now leave you. Give me my people, but 
keep the goods for yourself.’ 

“ ‘No, my lord,’ I replied, ‘for I have lifted up my 
hand in a solemn promise to my God that I would not 
take anything for myself or my people even to a 
thread lest it should be said that the king of Sodom 
had made me rich. I only ask that these men of 


STRANGE HAPPENINGS 31 

Canaan who went with me shall have what they 
have taken.’ 

“He urged me but I would not be persuaded and 
then he wished me peace and went his way. And 
Lot, whom I had fondly hoped would take warning 
from his fearful experience, turned from me and fol- 
lowed the king.” 


HEAVENLY VISITORS 


W HEN my father reached home he found 
a great multitude waiting to do him honor, 
but his strength had now utterly forsaken 
him and as soon as he had saluted the people he 
retired to his tent. As he dropped upon his bed his 
soul fainted away and for a long time my mother 
leaned anxiously over him lest the spark of life 
should pass from him. By and by he revived, but 
that night a horror of great darkness fell upon him 
and he grew weary of his life and requested of God 
that he might be gathered unto his fathers. 

“What is my end?” he cried, “that I should pro- 
long my days? All these years have I waited and 
now I am old and still I have no child to inherit the 
promise of God, and Lot whom I had thought to 
make mine heir has forsaken me and all this fearful 
struggle to rescue him has been for naught and I 
have no reward. Moreover, I have brought down 
upon my head the enmity of a powerful king and 
before him I and my people shall vanish as dry 
leaves before a devouring fire, and no man shall rise 
to shield me.” 

“Abraham?” said a voice in the dark. “Fear not, 
Abraham, and be not discouraged, for I am thy shield 
and thy exceeding great reward.” 

32 


HEAVENLY VISITORS 


33 


But the anguish of his spirit was great and he 
could only cry out : 

“What can you do for me, Lord, seeing that I am 
now old and childless and there is no one to be my 
heir except my steward — this Eliezer of Damascus.” 

“Eliezer shall not be thine heir, Abraham,” said 
the voice firmly; “thou shalt have a child of thine own 
who shall be thine heir. Rise and come forth.” 

And my father sat up and the streams of life began 
to flow afresh through his soul and he grew strong 
and arose and went forth and stood without the tent 
door. And the voice said: 

“Look up and behold the stars and see if thou canst 
count them.” 

And my father looked up. It was a clear moon- 
less night and the heavens were ablaze with stars, 
like the gems upon a king’s crown, and my father, 
who was learned in the wisdom of the heavens, knew 
that no man could number them. As he stood with 
upturned face his eyes wandered from one constella- 
tion to another until he was overwhelmed with a 
sense of the majesty and power of Him who had 
brought them into being and who was even now 
speaking to him. And he threw himself upon the 
earth and lay very still before God. Then came the 
voice again: 

“Abraham, as these stars which thou seest so 
shall thy seed be.” 

And my father believed the word that was spoken 
to him and his peace came again to his bosom and he 
arose and went back to his bed and slept. 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


34 


And yet month after month and year after year 
passed by and the promised child came not. 

One day while my father was sitting in his tent 
door in the heat of the day he looked up and saw 
three strangers coming up the road. He hastened out 
to the roadside to intercept them, for it was always 
his delight to show the hospitality of God to stran- 
gers, and when they came up he saluted them and 
said: 

“My lords, I pray you turn aside and rest awhile 
and I will fetch water to wash your feet and a bit 
of bread to comfort your hearts and when you are 
refreshed you shall go on your way.” 

They thanked him and came and sat beneath the 
tree near the tent door while my father hastened to 
serve them. He brought water for their feet and 
then hurried into the tent and told my mother to 
make some bread as quickly as she could; then he 
ran to the herd and selected a calf tender and good 
and gave it to a young man to kill and dress it. 
Finally when all was ready he set the veal and bread 
with butter and milk before his guests and as they ate 
he stood by them beneath the tree and talked with 
them. He soon discovered that two of his guests 
behaved toward the third with great deference and 
were loath to speak in his presence, and he began to 
wonder if heaven had not at last bestowed upon him 
that rare privilege which our people have ever craved 
— the privilege of entertaining the angels of God. 
Presently the stranger who seemed to be of higher 
rank than the others asked abruptly: 


HEAVENLY VISITORS 


35 


“Where is Sarah thy wife?” 

My father was startled by the question, not only 
because the Stranger was acquainted with my moth- 
er’s name but because it is not considered meet among 
our people for a man to inquire of the women of 
one’s family; but he answered quietly that she was in 
her apartment and waited to know what would come 
of the matter. The Stranger was silent for a moment 
and when he spoke again my father was more aston- 
ished than ever, for his voice was now strangely like 
the Voice he had heard in the vision of the night. 

“Truly,” he said, “I will return to thee according 
to the time of life and thy wife shall have a son.” 

My mother who was in the tent near by heard his 
words and could not help laughing within herself at 
the thought. 

“Why did Sarah laugh?” asked the Stranger 
quickly. “Is any thing too hard for God?” 

“I didn’t laugh,” called out my mother, who was 
now greatly frightened. 

“But thou didst laugh,” said the Stranger firmly. 

Then they arose to go and my father went with 
them to see them on their way. As they reached the 
top of the hill they looked toward Sodom and the 
Stranger, who my father now realized stood in some 
mysterious sense for the God of heaven himself, 
turned toward the other two and said: 

“Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am about 
to do, seeing that I have bestowed great honor upon 
him and will make of his descendants a great and 
mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall 


36 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


be blessed in him? For I know that he will command 
his children and household after him and teach them 
to keep the way of the Lord so that the promise of 
God to him may be fulfilled.” 

Then he turned to my father and said : 

“I have heard evil reports of Sodom and Gom- 
orrah and I am going down to see if the people have 
done altogether according to the reports that have 
come to me.” 

He turned to go on his way with the others, but 
my father suddenly planted himself in front of him. 
It was the boldest deed a mortal man ever did, but 
the thought of the peril that threatened Lot, whom 
my father still loved, had made him desperate. 

“Will you destroy the righteous with the wicked,” 
he cried? “Suppose there are fifty righteous men in 
Sodom — will you not spare the place for their sakes? 
Far be it from thee to slay the righteous with the 
wicked. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do 
right?” 

“If I find fifty righteous persons in Sodom,” re- 
plied the Stranger, “I will gladly spare it for their 
sakes.” 

He spoke so graciously that my father was encour- 
aged to venture further and he said: 

“Now that I who am but dust and ashes have ven- 
tured to speak to the Lord, let me go further; sup- 
pose you should lack five of the fifty — will you de- 
stroy the city for the lack of five?” 

“No,” he said, “If I find forty and five righteous 
persons there I will not destroy it.” 


HEAVENLY VISITORS 37 

But my father was now full of fear lest there 
should not be so many and he said: 

“Suppose there are only forty there?’’ 

And he answered: 

“I will not destroy it if I find forty righteous per- 
sons there.” 

My father hesitated a moment and then he said: 

“Let not my Lord be angry and I will speak again. 
Perhaps there will not be but thirty there?” 

“I will not destroy it if there are thirty there,” 
said the Stranger quietly. 

But my father’s heart was still overwhelmed with 
fear and he could not let the matter rest. 

“What if there are only twenty,” he asked. 

And he answered, still quietly, still patiently: 

“I will not destroy it if there are twenty there.” 

My father was now trembling from head to foot 
lest he should go too far, but the vision of Lot’s face 
soon steadied him and he determined to make one 
more venture. 

“Oh, let not the Lord be angry,” he cried, “and I 
will speak but this once. Suppose there are only ten 
found there?” 

And the answer came as quietly and patiently 
as before : 

“I will not destroy it if ten are found there.” 

My father stood aside and bowed low and the 
Stranger went on his way, and after watching him 
until he was out of sight he turned and slowly re- 
traced his steps. That night his heart was heavy with 
foreboding and his sleep fled from him and as he 


38 THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 

tossed restlessly upon his bed he cried again and 
again: 

“If I had only asked him to save the city for one 1” 

At last toward dawn he fell asleep, but as the sun 
arose he was suddenly awakened by a violent trem- 
bling of the earth. He lay still for a moment won- 
dering what it meant and presently it began again. 
He could feel the earth reel to and fro like a drunken 
man. He grew faint and sick and could hardly raise 
his head, but at last he summoned up all his strength 
and sprang up and hastened out of his tent and up the 
road in the direction of Sodom. When he reached 
the top of the hill he threw up his hands and uttered 
a cry of horror. For the whole country of Sodom 
and Gomorrah was enveloped in a smoke as black as 
midnight, and through the smoke shot here and there 
great streams of light as of liquid fire which pierced 
the heavens and fell back a fiery rain upon the earth. 

The fire of God had licked up the cities of the 
plain ! 

That evening a messenger from Zoar came to 
Arbah bringing the awful news. At sunrise, he said, 
there was a fearful quaking of the earth and the 
people of Zoar saw a great shaft of smoke and fire 
shoot up from the midst of Sodom, and presently 
there came down upon all the plain showers of flam- 
ing bitumen, and the whole country was as it were cast 
into a great furnace and consumed. Not a soul in all 
Sodom and Gomorrah, said the man, had escaped to 
tell the news. For a long time my father supposed 
that Lot was dead, but one day a man from Zoar 


HEAVENLY VISITORS 


39 


who stopped to rest at his tent told him that Lot and 
his two daughters had come to the village on the 
morning of the calamity, having been warned by 
angels to escape, but that they were so terrified that 
they would not stay, but fled to the mountains near by. 
His wife, said the man, had started with them, but 
lingered behind and was overtaken by the fiery 
shower. 


V 


A PROMISE FULFILLED 

I T WAS in the following spring that the promised 
son was born and the dream of my father’s life 
was fulfilled. My mother told me that when I 
was carried to my father for his blessing the great 
deeps of his mighty heart broke up and he wept for 
joy. Then he hurried out of the tent and called 
his people together and offered a great sacrifice unto 
the Lord. On the eighth day when I was named he 
gave a feast in my honor and many of his friends 
came to rejoice with him because the Lord had given 
him a son in his old age, and again when I was 
weaned he gave a greater feast to which he invited a 
great multitude from all the country round about. 

But the days of my father’s rejoicing passed swiftly 
by and soon a great shadow fell upon his heart. Away 
back in those trying days when my father and mother 
were waiting for the fulfillment of the promise my 
mother gave up all hope of having a son of her own 
and gave my father her maid, Hagar, to be his sec- 
ondary wife, according to the custom of our people, 
thinking that it was perhaps in this way that God in- 
tended that his promise should be fulfilled. By and 
by Hagar had a son and she was very happy in the 
thought that he would be my father’s heir. But she 
was doomed to a terrible disappointment and when 
40 


A PROMISE FULFILLED 


41 


I came she could not conceal her bitterness toward 
me and naturally in the course of time her son Ish- 
mael began to share her feeling. The boy mocked 
me even from my infancy and so provoked my mo- 
ther that at last she told my father she could stand it 
no longer and insisted that he should send the woman 
and her child away. It nearly broke my father’s 
heart and for three days and nights he could neither 
eat nor sleep. At last one night God visited him in a 
dream and told him not to be troubled about the 
child and his mother but to do as my mother had said, 
and assured him that he would take care of him and 
would make a nation of the child’s descendants be- 
cause he was my father’s son. 

It seemed a terrible thing to do and my father 
wept bitterly over it, but it was his way when God 
told him to do anything to do it whatever the cost, 
and the next morning he hugged the child to his 
bosom and sent him away with his mother. He gave 
Hagar a bag of money and told her that he would 
set apart a goodly portion for her son and that he 
would provide for her all her days, and then he 
gave her a basket of bread and a skin of water and 
she went away. Years afterwards we learned that 
the poor woman in her grief lost her way in the 
wilderness and that her bread and water gave out and 
she and her son came near perishing by the way. 
They wandered until they were too weak to go far- 
ther and then she laid the child beneath a shrub and 
went off a little distance from him; for, as she said, 
she could not bear to see him die. And she sat down 


42 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


and wept bitterly and cried out in her anguish unto 
God. Presently she heard a voice from heaven : 

“Hagar,” said the voice: “What aileth thee, Ha- 
gar? Be not afraid, be not discouraged, for God 
hath heard the voice of the child. Go and take the 
lad in your arms for I will make of him a great 
nation.’’ 

She sprang up with a low cry of joy and ran to her 
boy and strained him to her bosom. Then looking 
about her she spied a fountain which somehow she 
had not seen before, and she ran to it and filled her 
waterskin and brought it to her boy and lifted him 
up and he drank and his spirit revived. And God 
led them to Paran where they soon found a home. 

From the time that I was weaned I was my father’s 
constant companion. My mother often said — with a 
pardonable trace of maternal jealousy in her voice — 
that I had no need of a nurse for I was never out of 
my father’s lap, and I hardly think she intended it for 
an exaggeration for I cannot recall that he was ever 
willing for me to get out of his sight. People called 
me my father’s shadow, but I was more; I was his 
very substance. His heart fed on me. Moreover my 
love for him was even as his love for me; my very 
life was bound up in a bundle with his life. And time, 
which so often digs a great gulf between father and 
son, only deepened our devotion. I never grew 
ashamed of his tenderness toward me. Even when I 
was six feet tall he never offered the morning sacri- 
fice that I did not go and stand by his side just as I 
did when a little child that he might lay his hand upon 


A PROMISE FULFILLED 


43 


my head when he prayed. Thus we journeyed along 
the way together and the peace of God was upon us, 
and as time went on my father’s cup of joy again filled 
up to the brim. 

One night my father lay awake upon his bed think- 
ing of the Promise and of the wonderful way in 
which God had worked out all things toward its ful- 
fillment, and as he thought upon it his heart melted 
with gratitude. Suddenly a vague sense of forebod- 
ing mingled with awe came upon him. He lay still 
wondering what * it meant and presently he became 
conscious of someone standing near him. Then out 
of the darkness came a voice, gentle and low. 

“Abraham?” 

“Here am I,” he answered. 

“Take now thy son,” said the Voice with a strange 
tenderness, “thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, 
and go to the land of Moriah, and there offer him 
as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of 
which I shall tell thee.” 

My father made no reply for the sword had 
pierced his soul and he lay still upon his bed as one 
dead. After a time he began to revive but the awful 
words again flashed through his mind and he pressed 
his lips tightly together to smother the cry of anguish 
that broke from his heart. He raised his hands 
toward heaven beseechingly and then pressed them to- 
gether tightly upon his bosom that seemed about to 
burst. 

“Is it possible!” he cried to himself — but no 
sound escaped his lips — “Is it possible ! Is this the 


44 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


end of all my hopes? O my son, my son, my son!” 

He fainted away and when he revived again he 
strove desperately to master himself. 

“Be still my soul!” he said sharply: “Should I 
who have received good from my God — should I 
not be willing to receive evil also? When he gave I 
blessed him, should I not bless him when he — when 
he—” 

But a vision of his son’s face passed before him 
and the sword again pierced his soul. Presently he 
revived again. 

“What?” he cried. “Do not my heathen neigh- 
bors offer their children to their gods? And shall a 
servant of the Most High God fall behind them? 
If they are willing to sacrifice their sons to such gods 
as they worship shall I refuse my son to the God of 
heaven? Shall I — ” 

But again the vision of the lad’s face came before 
him and his spirit fainted away. 

He lay still for a moment and then suddenly sprang 
up in his bed. 

“I will obey him ! " he cried. “It will kill me to do 
it but I will obey him. And I will trust him. I don’t 
know what he means but he will keep his word. He 
must keep his word. If I slay my son he can give 
him back to me again. He will give him back to me 
for he will keep his word.” 

He fell back upon his bed exhausted, and pres- 
ently a strange peace came over him and he dropped 
into a gentle slumber. 


VI 


THE BRAVEST THING A FATHER EVER DID 

H E AWOKE at dawn and as he lifted his 
heart toward God the awful vision of the 
night before flashed through his mind and 
again his soul fainted away. But he quickly revived 
and remembering his own word of promise he calmly 
prayed for strength and then arose quietly and left 
the tent. He called two of his servants and gave 
them orders to prepare for a journey; and then he 
called me. 

“My son,” he said calmly, but without looking 
into my face, “I am going to the land of Moriah to 
offer a burnt-offering unto Almighty God and I want 
you to go with me.” 

I could not understand why he should go so far to 
offer a sacrifice, though I knew that he had a deep 
reverence for sacred places, but he offered no explana- 
tion and I said nothing. We started off at sunrise. 
My father rode on an ass, for he was too feeble to 
walk, and I walked by his side, and behind us fol- 
lowed two servants, one carrying an armful of dry 
wood for the altar and the other bearing in one hand 
a fire-carrier full of live coals and in the other a small 
bag of charcoal to keep the fire alive. We went on 
our way all that day and all the next in silence for I 
could not persuade my father to talk. He was very 
. 45 , 


46 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


pale and his lips were pressed tightly together and his 
face was set as a flint toward Moriah; he would not 
look either to the right or the left. At last on the 
third morning we came to the foot of a mountain and 
my father descended from his beast and took the 
wood and laid it on my shoulders. Then he took the 
fire-carrier and a knife which one of the servants car- 
ried in his girdle, and telling the servants to tarry 
until we should return, he motioned to me to go with 
him, and together we started up the mountain. As we 
went on our way I said to him: 

“Father?” 

“What is it, my son?” he replied, gently. 

“We have the wood and the fire, but where is the 
lamb for the burnt offering?” 

He stopped suddenly and his whole frame quiv- 
ered, but he quickly started forward again and pres- 
ently he said with a strange calmness : 

“My son, God will provide a lamb for the burnt- 
offering.” 

At that instant a horrible thought flashed through 
my mind and I grew faint and dizzy and reeled like 
a drunken man. What? Was I — was it possible — 
did he intend to offer me for a burnt-offering? Me? 

I had often heard how the heathen nations offered 
their sons to the gods and I knew that one of our 
neighbors had carried his first born on a journey to a 
heathen temple and returned without him, but the 
possibility that such a fate would ever overtake me 
never occurred to me until that moment. For a time 
I stumbled blindly along my way — though I strove 


THE BRAVEST THING 


47 


hard to walk erect lest my father should see my 
agony — and as I went the fear deepened to a settled 
conviction that my father had seen a vision and that 
God had required his son at his hands. For a time 
a wild storm raged in my mind and I had a fearful 
struggle with myself, but at last the tempest began 
to subside and I found myself saying to my soul: 

“Shall a son dishonor his father? Should not a 
son be as his father? If my father can thus yield 
himself unto the will of his God shall I not yield my- 
self unto the will of my father who has always stood 
to me in the place of God?” 

I wondered afterwards that I could have thought 
so calmly but I suppose the God of my father must 
have laid his soothing hand upon me. A merciful 
numbness now came over me and I walked on with 
my father without concern for what was before me. 
At last we came to the top of the mountain and at 
once set about gathering stones for the altar. We 
arranged the stones in a hollow square and then I 
made my father rest while I filled up the hollow space 
with earth and placed the wood in order upon it. 
Then as I stood back my father arose and drawing 
a thong from the folds of his robe advanced toward 
me. His face was ghastly white and great drops of 
cold sweat stood out upon his brow. 

“My son,” he began, but I saw that his lips were 
quivering and I said quickly: 

“Never mind, father, I understand; it’s all right.” 

I put my arms about his neck and kissed him as 
quietly as I could and then I turned and stretched 


48 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


myself out upon the altar and closed my eyes. I was 
still strangely calm for the soothing hand of my God 
was still upon me. 

I could feel my father’s cold, damp, trembling 
Hands as he tied my wrists with the thong and bound 
me to the altar. Presently I could feel his breath 
upon my cheek and I knew that he was leaning over 
me and gazing into my face. My heart went out 
to him with a pity that made me forget myself and I 
silently prayed unto God for him. Then I felt his 
quick kiss upon my lips and I knew that he had 
straightened himself up and raised his knife for the 
deed. The next instant a strange voice fell quick and 
sharp upon my ears. 

“Abraham 1 Abraham !” 

I opened my eyes and my father stood beside me, 
his right hand raised on high still grasping his knife, 
his ghastly face turned toward heaven. 

“Abraham,” cried the voice again, “lay not thine 
hand upon the lad, for now I know that thou fearest 
God seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only 
son from me.” 

My father dropped the knife upon the ground and 
lifting both hands to heaven cried out : 

“My God! My God!” 

He could say nothing more, for the great deeps of 
his long pent-up heart now broke wildly forth and he 
threw himself upon me and wept aloud. Then he 
raised himself and looked into my eyes with an 
unutterable joy and then impulsively covered my face 
with his kisses. At length he became quiet and rais- 


THE BRAVEST THING 


49 


ing his head he spied a ram caught by his horns in 
a thicket. He picked up his knife, quickly cut the 
thong that bound me and lifted me up and then we 
hastened together to the thicket for the ram which 
God had indeed provided for the burnt-offering. I 
stood by my father as he offered the ram upon the 
altar and when he prayed he laid his hand upon my 
head. Never have I heard my father pray as he 
prayed that day. 

When he had ended the voice again came from 
heaven : 

“Abraham,” said the voice, “because thou hast 
obeyed me in this thing and hast not withheld thy 
son, thine only son from me, truly in blessing I will 
bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thee, and 
thy descendants shall be as the stars of heaven and as 
the sand that is by the seashore, and in thy seed shall 
all the nations of the earth be blessed.” 

As we came down the mountain my father’s face 
shone like the face of an angel of God and all the 
world about me was as fair as the garden of the 
Lord. The glory of God was upon the grass and 
trees and flowers; the birds sang with a sweetness 
I had never known before, and the morning air re- 
freshed my soul like the blood of grapes. When we 
came to our servants my father spoke to them with a 
gaiety that startled them, and as we went on our way 
homeward he talked incessantly, as one whose heart 
is overflowing with a secret joy. My father never 
told my mother of his experience nor did he ever 
mention it to me until a few days before he died, 


50 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


when he told me the story of his vision and his awful 
struggle. Nor did I ever speak of it until the day 
after his death when I told the story to my twin 
sons that they might realize the greatness of their 
grandfather’s spirit and that they might understand 
that while the God of heaven requires implicit obedi- 
ence he abhors human sacrifices; for he is not like 
the gods of the heathen who would have us do vio- 
lence to the natural affections which he has placed in 
our hearts; for the gods of the heathen feel not, 
but our God is a God of compassion. 


VII 


THE BEAUTIFUL REBEKAH 

M Y MOTHER was now very old and feeble 
and we could see that she was slowly pass- 
ing away, like a brook in the drought of 
summer. My father watched over her with tender 
solicitude, for they had walked together for a hun- 
dred years, but she was weary and longed to go, and 
at last one evening in the late autumn as the sun was 
setting, she gave us both a tender farewell and turned 
away in peace to her long rest. 

The next morning at dawn my father went to 
Arbah and sat in the gate of the city and when the 
people were gathered together he arose and ad- 
dressed them. He told them of my mother’s death 
and then he said : 

“As you know I am a stranger and a sojourner in 
the land and I have no possession among you and I 
have come to seek a burying place that I may bury my 
dead out of my sight.” 

When he had ended one of the elders of the city 
stepped forward and bowing low to my father said to 
him: 

“Hear us, my lord. You are a mighty prince 
among us; in the choice of our sepulchres bury your 
dead ; for there is no man among us who would with- 
hold his sepulchre from you.” 

My father, in the princely manner which had not 

5 .? 


52 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


forsaken him in his old age, bowed very graciously, 
first to the elders and then to the people standing 
near and said: 

“If it is indeed in your hearts that I should have 
a place to bury my dead among you I beg you to 
entreat for me to Ephron, the son of Zohar, that he 
may let me have the field in which is the cave of 
Macpelah for as much money as it is worth.” 

Just at that moment Ephron came up and when he 
was told what my father wanted he came forward 
and said with great courtesy : 

“Nay, my lord, I would not have you pay me for 
the field; it is yours; here in the presence of all my 
people I give it to you; take it and bury your dead.” 

At this my father bowed very low again and said: 

“But if you will give me your field I must give you 
money for it; accept it I pray you and I will bury my 
dead.” 

“My lord,” said Ephron, “the land is worth four 
hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between 
us ? Take the land and bury your dead.” 

The price named was several times greater than 
the value of the land, but my father without a word 
opened his bag and weighed out the silver to him 
in the presence of the people, and thus the field of 
Ephron in which was the cave of Macpelah was made 
over to my father for a possession. 

That was always my father’s way; though humble 
in spirit as a little child, yet in all his dealings with 
men he behaved as a prince of God. 

After my mother’s death my father clung to me 


THE BEAUTIFUL REBEKAH 


53 


more closely, if possible, than ever before, yet his 
devotion, even now that he was old enough to be 
childish, was never blind nor selfish, for he was al- 
ways ready to deny himself for my happiness. I 
could see that he was now thinking of another great 
sacrifice which the will of God was about to require 
of him and that he was daily trying to strengthen 
himself for it. If the promise of God was to be ful- 
filled he must stand aside even in his old age and al- 
low another to come and take his place and occupy 
the larger place in his son’s affections. One day he 
called his steward and said to him : 

“I am now old and know not the day of my death. 
Put your hand beneath my thigh and take a solemn 
oath that you will not take a wife for my son from 
among the daughters of Canaan, but that you will 
go to my father’s country and take a wife for him 
from among my own kindred.” 

“But suppose she should not be willing to come to 
this land,” said the steward; “shall I take your son 
thither?” 

“No! never!” said my father earnestly; “whatever 
you do beware that you take not my son thither. The 
God of heaven who took me from my father’s home 
and led me to this land and promised to give me this 
land for my children, he will send his angel before 
you to direct you and you shall take a wife for my 
son from my kindred.” 

And the man took a solemn oath that he would 
obey my father in the matter. 

“If the woman will not come with you,” said my 


54 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


father, “you shall be clear of your oath, but under no 
circumstances must you take my son away from this 
land.” 

My father made great preparations for this im- 
portant mission and when the steward started the 
next morning for Haran he had a great train of 
servants and camels bearing costly gifts for my wife 
and her parents. The steward was a most faithful 
servant of my father and a devout worshipper of 
my Father’s God, and in his devotion to his master’s 
interests he often turned for direction to the God of 
heaven. When he reached Haran it was in the cool 
of the evening, near the time when the maidens of 
the city were accustomed to come out to the well near 
the gate for water. He caused his camels to kneel 
down by the well and while they were resting he 
lifted up his eyes toward heaven and prayed. 

“O God of my master, Abraham,” he said, “I 
pray thee send me good speed this day and show 
kindness to my master Abraham. Here I stand by 
the well and presently the maidens of the city will 
come out to draw water. When I say to a maiden, 
“Let down your pitcher that I may have a drink of 
water, if she should say, ‘Drink and I will give your 
camels drink also,’ let her, I pray thee, be the maiden 
whom thou hast provided for my master’s son, and 
thereby shall I know that thou hast shown kindness 
to my master.” 

He had hardly finished his prayer before a maiden 
came to the well with a pitcher upon her shoulder. 
The steward gazed intently upon her as she hastened 



REBEKAH AT THE WELL 
“A maiden came to the well with a pitcher” 
































































































THE BEAUTIFUL REBEKAH 


55 


down the steps to fill her pitcher. When she came 
back her eyes were shining like the stars of heaven 
and her cheeks were as red as the blood of grapes 
and he thought she was as beautiful as my mother 
the first day he laid eyes upon her. Bowing low he 
said to her: 

“I pray you, let me drink a little water out of 
your pitcher.” 

And the girl with a rare maidenly grace let down 
the pitcher upon her hand and said sweetly : 

“Drink my lord,” — and presently she added — 
“and I will draw water for your camels also.” 

When he had drunk she emptied the pitcher in the 
trough and hurried down the steps and brought up 
another, then another, until the camels had finished 
drinking. Meanwhile the steward stood silently pon- 
dering the matter. Presently he said to himself : 

“I cannot be mistaken; surely God has answered 
my prayer.” 

He took from beneath his robe a little bag and 
opened it and as she turned to go he said to her: 

“Whose daughter are you?” and added: “Is there 
room in your father’s home that we may lodge?” 

“I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Nahor,” 
she answered modestly. “Yes, my lord, we have 
plenty of room that you may lodge with my father.” 

The steward lifted up his eyes to heaven and de- 
voutedly gave thanks to God ; then while the maiden 
looked on in wonder he took out of his little bag a 
beautiful nose-ring and a pair of costly bracelets and 
handed them to her. She was so astonished that she 


56 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


could not speak but took the jewels and ran home as 
fast as she could. 

“And where is the man?” asked her brother Laban 
excitedly when she had told her strange story. And 
he hurried out to the well. In a little while he re- 
turned with the steward and his servants and his 
father received them with great hospitality. After 
the steward had washed his feet and rested they set 
food before him and urged him to eat, but he said: 

“No, I cannot eat until I have told my errand.” 

He was a man of business and he was so faithful 
that he never allowed himself to think of his own 
comfort while any duty remained to be attended to. 
And so he told them that he was the steward of 
Abraham the brother of Nahor, and that God had 
greatly blessed his master and that he had become 
very great and was very rich in flocks and herds and 
camels and servants; that his master’s wife had 
borne him a son in his old age and that he was his 
master’s only heir and that his master had sent him 
to take a wife from among his own kindred for his 
son. And then he told them of the plan he had 
adopted at the well to find out whom God had ap- 
pointed to be the wife of his master’s son. 

“And now,” he said, when he had told his story, 
“if you will deal kindly and truly with my master tell 
me, and if not let me know at once so that I may 
know what to do.” 

The girl’s father and brother arose and went into 
the women’s apartment and after a little while they 
returned and the father said: 


THE BEAUTIFUL REBEKAH 


57 


“This matter is evidently from the Lord and we 
cannot say anything against it. Rebekah is before 
you. Take her and let her be your master’s own 
wife even as God has spoken.” 

At this the steward bowed his head and gave 
thanks to God, and then he went out and opened up 
the goods he had brought and presently the servants 
came in one after another bearing great burdens of 
precious things — jewels of silver, jewels of gold, 
costly robes and rugs and vases; and the steward pre- 
sented them to Rebekah and to her mother. It was 
a wonderful display such as they had never seen be- 
fore and they could not conceal their delight at the 
great blessing that had thus suddenly come upon 
them. Then the steward sat down and they ate and 
were very merry. 

The next morning the steward arose early and 
asked permission to leave at once that he might re- 
turn without delay to his master. Rebekah’s mother 
and brother now began to entreat that she should be 
allowed to remain a few days longer but he begged 
them not to hinder him seeing that God had pros- 
pered him in his journey. 

“Well then,” said the mother, “we will call Re- 
bekah and see if she is ready to go.” 

And they called her. When she came her father 
said to her: 

“Will you go with this man?” 

“I will,” she replied. 

And so the steward took her and her nurse and 
turned his face toward Canaan. 


58 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


In those days we were living in the South Country 
and the journey was long and weary and it seemed to 
me that the steward would never return. Every 
evening at sunset I would put on my festival robe 
and walk out in the fields and look up the road toward 
Arbah to see if the camels were coming. One even- 
ing as I walked to and fro wrapt in meditation I 
looked up suddenly and saw the steward and his train 
coming along the plain hardly three furlongs away. 
As I looked I saw a woman alight from her camel and 
cover her face with her veil and I knew that she was 
my wife. My heart now throbbed fast within me. 
Presently the steward hurried his camel on ahead and 
as he came up he saluted me and told me that God 
had greatly prospered him and in a low voice he said: 

“And she is as beautiful as your mother was when 
her fame was throughout all the land.” 

At last they came up and I went and took my wife 
by the hand and led her to the tent that had been 
occupied by my mother, and there at the tent door my 
father greeted her and lifting his hands to heaven 
pronounced upon her the most beautiful blessing I 
ever heard. And thus the lovely Rebekah became my 
wife, and my heart melted with tenderness toward 
her, and I was comforted after my mother’s death. 


SUNSET 


M Y FATHER spent his declining years in 
great peace. The storms of life had all 
passed and left him in his place like a mel- 
low apple hanging alone upon the tree in the quiet 
golden days of autumn. Unlike other old men he spent 
his days not in dreaming of the past but in sweet an- 
ticipation of the future. His faith in God had be- 
come an impregnable fortress and he could stand 
upon its walls and look out into the future and see the 
fulfillment of God’s promise as a landscape spread 
out before his eyes. For twenty years I was childless, 
but he never suffered a moment’s anxiety; he could 
still look forward and see my children playing about 
my knees. He would sit in his tent door at sunset 
and as the golden light flooded his thoughtful face 
that far-away look would come into his eyes and he 
would see as in a distant picture the whole land of 
Canaan covered with his descendants, worshippers of 
Almighty God, and he could see a great stream of 
blessing flowing out of the land into all the world and 
carrying joy to all the nations of the earth, even as a 
river flowing out into the desert causes the grass and 
flowers and trees to grow upon its banks. 

When my twin sons, Esau and Jacob were born my 
father was very happy and desired to depart, since he 
59 


60 


THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 


had seen his last desire fulfilled, but he was spared 
to us for fifteen years longer and my two boys were 
brought up on his knees. I can see him now as he 
used to sit beneath the great oak near the tent door 
with his arms around my sons — an old, old man with 
a long snowy beard and kindly eyes peeping out from 
beneath great shaggy white brows, and close against 
his beard on either side a little round face with rosy 
cheeks, one fair, with auburn hair and eyes as blue 
as the sky, and the other dark, with eyes and hair as 
black as the raven’s wing. Those were joyful days 
to my boys for my father told them many beautiful 
stories just as he had told me when I was a child; yet 
their joy was tempered with awe because of his great 
age, for they seemed to feel that their grandfather 
was an ancient prince of God who must have been 
present at the creation of the world. 

We were living in the South Country in those days 
but when my father saw that his time was drawing 
near he begged me to go back to the plains of Mamre 
near Arbah so that he might be sure of a final resting 
place by the side of my mother. And so one day I 
plucked up my tent-pegs and we returned to the old 
home place where my mother died. And there I 
watched over my father as the cords of life gradually 
loosened to the end. One day he called me and my 
two sons to his side and gave us his final blessing. 
Soon afterwards his mind wandered back to the past 
and the tears came into his eyes, and he turned to me 
and said: 

“I should like to see Ishmael before I go.” 


SUNSET 


61 


And I sent a servant in haste to Shur to tell Ishmael 
that our father’s time was at hand and that he desired 
to see him. On the third day Ishmael came. I went 
out to meet him with dread but when I looked into 
his face I saw that my message had awakened only 
the tenderness of the past without its bitterness, and 
I put my arms about his neck and kissed him and we 
wept together. I brought him into my father’s tent 
and there the great rough man of the desert became a 
child again and threw hims'elf upon my father’s face 
and wept aloud. My father’s spirit fainted away, but 
presently he revived and summoning up all the 
strength that remained to him he lifted his hands to 
heaven and pronounced a beautiful blessing upon my 
brother. He fell back exhausted upon his pillow and 
when he again opened his eyes I saw in them that 
far-away look which I had so often seen when he 
was looking upon the visions of God. At last he 
closed them and a moment later he passed away as 
jquietly as a little child falls into his evening slumber. 

We buried our father in the Cave of Macpelah by 
my mother’s side. The sun was setting as I came 
forth from the cave and its golden light fell upon my 
two boys who stood waiting for me. I put my arms 
around them and three weeping children made their 
way home in the gathering twilight. 


THE END 



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